Innovation management software is entering a period of rapid growth and transformation. According to Gartner, the market is expected to grow from $2 billion in 2025 to more than $3 billion by 2032. By 2030, the field is expected to consolidate, with fewer than five dominant players globally, shaped by developments in agentic AI, hypersynthetic data, and intelligent simulation.
This shift is already underway. HYPE Innovation’s acquisition of Planbox in 2024 marked a pivotal moment, uniting two of the leading innovation management platforms in North America and Europe to deliver broader capabilities, increased scale, and deeper expertise worldwide.
Recognized in the 2025 Gartner® Market Guide for Innovation Management Platforms for the eighth consecutive year, HYPE exemplifies the market’s shift toward structured, AI-powered, and globally scalable systems.
AI is Reshaping the Innovation Lifecycle
Platforms are evolving beyond idea collection to support the full innovation lifecycle, from trendspotting and ecosystem collaboration to IP commercialization and value realization. As organizations take a more structured approach to managing innovation, AI capabilities have become a defining differentiator.
As noted in the Market Guide:
“The overall market direction for innovation management platforms is characterized by a strong emphasis on AI-driven capabilities—a focus on measurable business impact, including return on investment (ROI), the provision of comprehensive, end-to-end solutions and the facilitation of innovation ecosystem engagement.”
The Market Guide further outlines key AI-related directions, including:
- “Pervasive integration of AI capabilities: AI is revolutionizing nearly every stage of the innovation life cycle, augmenting human capabilities, automating processes and providing deeper insights.”
- “Generative AI for ideation and content creation: Platforms are incorporating generative AI to initiate and refine ideas, draft comprehensive content and produce visuals. This impacts the initial innovation stages by fostering creativity, improving efficiency and refining idea articulation.”
- “AI-powered scouting, trend management and foresight: AI is used to actively monitor external environments for emerging trends and technologies, helping organizations sense demand.”
“AI should be more than a bolt-on,” said Jesse Nieminen, Chief Product Officer at HYPE Innovation. “What matters is how well it helps teams spot opportunities earlier, make smarter decisions faster, and execute with more confidence. It’s about augmenting people, not replacing them.”
The Human Side of Innovation Execution
As innovation programs mature, the pressure to demonstrate tangible results is growing. Platforms that track outcomes, communicate value, and link innovation efforts to strategic goals are gaining momentum. But technology alone isn’t the answer. Success depends on the organization’s readiness to act, invest, and follow through.
In its recommendations to innovation leaders, the Market Guide advises:
“Ensure your organization has the appropriate level of commitment before embarking on this journey. Commitment implies leadership buy-in, budget allocations, decision-making responsibilities, accountability and general readiness to implement necessary changes with adequate resources. A campaign can help to generate ideas, and a tool can help to collect, organize, refine and filter them. However, if nothing is done with the ideas, it is not only a waste of effort but also potentially demoralizing and counterproductive.”
“We’ve seen time and again that the best ideas don’t succeed on their own,” said Frank Henningsen, CEO of HYPE Innovation. “It takes committed leadership, dedicated resources, and a clear path to execution. When those pieces come together, that’s when innovation truly delivers impact.”
Gartner subscribers can view the Market Guide through Gartner.
Gartner. Market Guide for Innovation Management Platforms, Tsuneo Fujiwara, Nikos Drakos, Gunjita Mundeja, Christian Stephan, 11 August 2025
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